Patio Door Latch

A standard patio door latch is not a very secure door lock at all. They are usually made of die cast materials or even plastic and can be broken open without too much force. It's worthwhile to look into alternate ways of securing your patio door beyond the standard patio door latch.

Nothing beats the old hockey stick as a first line of defense. Cut an old hockey stick or other suitably long piece of lumber to fit in between the operating door and the side jamb of the patio door. Leave it there when you go out. It's next to impossible to jimmy the door open without resorting to smashing your way through the glass.

Not everybody likes the hockey stick patio door latch so there are fancier products you can buy from the hardware store. The cheapest are pins which fit into a hole you have drilled through all your patio door panels. Others are spring loaded pins you activate with your foot, which engage a hole you have drilled in on of the patio door bottom rails.

click on picture

The latch shown is even easier, no holes need to be drilled through the door panels. It just screws down to the door threshold

Having secured the bottom of the door you may wish to add strips of wood to take up the gap between the top of the sliding door and the top patio door track. Screw a long strip of wood in place so that it does not interfere with the side to side motion of the door but does not allow the panels to be lifted up and out without removing the wood strip. Hardware stores also sell fancier shims for this purpose if you need something that looks a little more professional than a strip of wood.

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